Even a man with patience, with appreciation for why a Tigers audience is so fixated on his left knee, has his limits.

"Really, I'm not going to talk about this anymore," Alex Avila said last weekend as he stood in the Tigers Club at Comerica Park, protected from the chill that TigerFest patrons otherwise ignored at a typically jammed event.

Avila is exhausted. It is still January, and 12 days from his first official appearance at spring camp in Lakeland, Fla. But a man who Tuesday turned 26 is already worn out from questions about a left knee that last year hurt more than he would acknowledge; a sore knee that no doubt factored in a setback season, offensively, in which the catcher and 2011 All-Star hit .243, with nine home runs and 48 RBIs.

What he has explained in these early days of 2013 he hopes will end a gauntlet of questions about his physical state.

Of course, it won't. National media aching to check in on last season's World Series runner-ups will invade Lakeland in the coming weeks. Most will be unaware of the platelet-rich plasma injections Avila received Oct. 30 from Dr. Sadiq Haque of the Detroit Medical Center in a bid to promote healing of damaged tissue and to knock out the steady aches from tendinitis Avila experienced in 2012.

"I'm already able to do stuff this offseason I wasn't able to do last offseason," Avila said. "I'm very happy about it."